Name: Nineteen Eighty-Four
ISBN: 9780141036144

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by the English novelist George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair). It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviours within society. Orwell, himself a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian government in the novel after Stalinist Russia. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within politics and the ways in which they are manipulated.

What Hacker News says

wise_bloodSep 2026

20 years ago I read a The Guardian article about the "top geek novels". I immediately read a bunch of those.

Recently I managed to find the list again, and it's been endless pleasure:

- American Gods -- Neil Gaiman

- Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley

- The Colour of Magic -- Terry Pratchett

- Consider Phlebas -- Iain M Banks

- Cryptonomicon -- Neal Stephenson

- Cloud Atlas -- David Mitchell

- The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson

- The Dispossessed -- Ursula K Le Guin

- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Philip Dick

- Dune -- Frank Herbert

- Foundation -- Isaac Asimov

- Giles Goat-Boy -- John Barth

- Gravity's Rainbow -- Thomas Pynchon

- The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- Douglas Adams

- I, Robot -- Isaac Asimov

- The Illuminatus! Trilogy -- Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

- The Left Hand of Darkness -- Ursula K Le Guin

- The Man in the High Castle -- Philip K Dick

- Microserfs -- Douglas Coupland

- Neuromancer -- William Gibson

- Nineteen Eighty-Four -- George Orwell

- Orlando -- Virgina Woolf

- The Shockwave Rider -- John Brunner

- Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson

- Stand on Zanzibar -- John Brunner

- Stranger in a Strange Land -- Robert Heinlein

- Trouble with lichen - John Wyndham

- UBIK -- Philip Dick

- Watchmen -- Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

- Woman on the Edge of Time -- Marge Piercy

(I am creatively interpreting "The Colour of Magic" as "all Discworld", "Dune" as "the six Dune books", etc.)

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kvgrSep 2026

Read: American Gods, Consider Phlebas, Neuromancer, The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dune 1, Nineteen Eighty-Four listened to Foundation and I definitely recommend all.

But for me Consider Phlebas is the best. Currently on 4th book in series, but cant get through it. Nineteen Eighty-Four doesnt feel geek novel, just political. Also great.

I keep reading outputs from LLMs all day and don't have energy to focus on Eng written books in the evening.

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mindcrimeMay 2026

As hyperbolic as it stands, right to privacy should be an amendment.

I don't think it's hyperbolic at all. I think this is something that absolutely must happen, and that it's pretty obvious that it must happen. But then again, I often cite Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four as the most influential book I've ever read in my life, so I'm not exactly unbiased.

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onliMar 2026

Sorry, I haven't tried to read that one. If it's even more, hm, abstract?, then I won't ever try.

Note that 1984 is listed, just as "Nineteen Eighty-Four". I missed it when searching, didn't think of searching for "Orwell" instead.

I'd disagree with you about its quality, I remember it fondly (well, as much as possible given the topic of having one's identity erased), it was a powerful experience - and I do remember it vividly, so when asked for books one remembers I'd absolutely mention it, and in a list of books of the century it does belong.

Joyce "prose" on the other hand did nothing for me but make me despise his book.

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xnorswapJan 2026

I'd argue that makes Black Mirror more prescient.

In the case of Black Mirror, it was a set of studies on the dangers of current and near technologies. That some of those fears are materialising not long after the episodes, is in my opinion more damning than Orwell's fears of the state which didn't really come to pass in the same way, even decades later.

I don't disagree that Nineteen Eighty-Four is essential reading however. ( I'd also add Brave New World to that list ).

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foresterreNov 2025

It seems to work decently even with just one or two titles for popular titles, but less so for the niche.

For example, the title "Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre" by Keith Johnstone, linked by another article posted to HN today gives back the following suggestions:

- Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation by Charna Halpern - Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson - 1984 by George Orwell - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1) by J.K. Rowling - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho - The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell - Dune (Dune, #1) by Frank Herbert

It's a bit unfortunate that all suggestions are fairly popular titles, which are fairly easy to find, while the unpopular or niche may be just as well written but a lot harder to find.

Within niche topics or books, it is also usually harder to provide multiple similar enough titles up front.

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